


Mutual Collision

by braddocks



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 12:09:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4100461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/braddocks/pseuds/braddocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lisa decides to meddle into her brother's relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mutual Collision

**Author's Note:**

> TITLE: Mutual Collision  
> DISCLAIMER: The Flash belongs to DC Comics and The CW.  
> NOTES: This is for doreyg for a comment_fic fill. I hope you like! The prompt was “they don’t realize they’re getting married until they’re at the wedding.”  
> PAIRING: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart [ColdFlash]  
> RATING: G

Barry started getting suspicious the moment that Lisa asked him to meet her at Star Labs. Something was going on. Maybe a small part of Barry knew what was going on, the part that was still hoping (and Lisa loved meddling in her brother’s relationship with Barry), but he wasn’t really holding his breath. Len had made it very clear. Even after five years together, Len wasn’t interested in marriage.

Why did they need a piece of paper to say what they already knew about each other? What their family, their friends, their colleagues, already knew?

Barry knew, of course, that Len was right. As long as they knew that about each other, it was all that mattered. Barry couldn’t have his mother, that was something he’d learned to live with over the years, but he could have this. Have the promise he’d made with her when he was six years old and he promised that someday he’d get married in the same church that she and dad had gotten married in.

It was important to him. To remember, to honor his mother, to be the son that she’d always believed in and wanted. And maybe that was why Barry fought so hard for this one little thing. Len didn’t understand why Barry wanted it so much. Maybe if Barry told him, he’d get it, but Barry felt dumb. Things were already getting out of control.

Len and Barry hadn’t spoken in over a day; they were both being stubborn (from the other’s point of view) during this fight. It was the longest they hadn’t spoken to each other in four years; a two week long fight during their first year together, that had almost been their break-up, would always be fresh in Barry’s memory, no matter how many years that would follow it. After that, it was an unspoken promise to never go a day without speaking. It had worked out alright: until now. Barry had fled to Iris’ house, and had been holed up with her and ice cream, trying not to fall apart.

It wasn’t working.

That was when Lisa had texted him to meet her at Star Labs, and Barry still wondered what was going on, as he stepped into the building. Either something was wrong with Len, or she was involved with something else that she shouldn’t be, and that meant that Cisco was developing something crazy to help her out that would need The Flash’s help with pulling it off. It was a vicious circle that was starting to get old. It was a barely veiled mask of flirting. If Barry could admit his feelings to Captain Cold, Cisco could do the same to her. It wasn’t that hard.

“He’s here,” Barry heard Cisco’s voice before he saw him. He rounded the corner of their lab, and stopped short. There were two rows of empty seats and a box of decorations that were in the process of being set up. “You weren’t supposed to get here so fast,” Cisco accused him, and Barry opened his mouth to make a joke, but Cisco shook his head. “Iris said you weren’t leaving your room for anything, and we thought we’d have a few more hours before you finally dragged your sulking self here.”

“This better be good, or—“

The grumbling voice of Len came from behind him, and Barry tensed, before turning his head to look. Len looked as good as Barry felt: like crap. There were dark circles under his eyes, and Barry wondered if he’d been unable to sleep since their fight, too. Barry had tossed and turned and had given up on the idea. Instead, Barry had just laid there and stared at the ceiling, wondering how much longer he was going to be able to go on without him. If he’d have to learn how to survive and cope without him like before. He wasn’t going to be able to. Barry knew that much.

“What’s going on?” Barry asked, still not taking his eyes off Len. Len would not look at him.

“You two idiots are getting married.”

Barry finally tore his gaze from Len to look at Lisa, eyes wide, and mouth open.

“What?” Len was the one to voice the question, voice incredulous. It was exactly how Barry felt.

Lisa crossed her arms over his chest, giving them both an unimpressed look. “This has gone on long enough. You two never fight like this anymore. It’s been years since you’ve gone almost two days without talking. I’m done with Lenny’s sulking--” Lisa ignored his attempt at interrupting her. “—And you, according to Iris, have been doing nothing but moping since getting to her house, Barry. You are both idiots, and need to speak to one another about this, not crying to us over something you obviously both want.”

“Len’s made it very clear that he doesn’t want this,” Barry objected, glancing over at Len, as if he was looking for confirmation of his own words. Len’s face was unreadable.

“Len does want to get married to you. That’s why he’s objecting so hard. Our parents were not role models like yours, Barry. I know you’ve heard this before.”

And oh. It finally clicked into place. Barry nodded slowly to Lisa, before turning to face his boyfriend. Lisa and Cisco took that as their cue to discreetly slip into the training room, leaving Barry and Len alone.

“I promised my mother when I was six years old that I would get married someday. When you are six, and adore your mother more than anything, you want to live up to everything you promise her. Especially, because two years later, I’d lose her forever. I still planned to keep that promise, no matter how the future turned out. I owed it to her. And to me, to be happy. I don’t need marriage to be happy. I can live without it, if it’s something you really don’t want, but now you know why I couldn’t give it up so easily.” Barry reached over, and grabbed Len’s hand, lacing their fingers together. He stared down at their hands, unable to look up at Len’s face. He didn’t want to see pity or something worse.

“We should do it.”

Barry looked up in shock, mouth falling open in surprise.

“Lisa’s right,” Len admitted, “I do want to marry you. You’ve changed my life, Scarlet. Before you, I didn’t want any of that romantic slop. I was content with sleeping around and stealing what I wanted, when I wanted. You know this. Hell, you know I still steal. Of course, you end up stopping most of it like a game between us, but that’s not the point. None of that’s new, but wanting that stupid paper that you want? That’s what’s new for me. We aren’t like my parents; my dad was an abusive asshole who ran our mother out. I was always afraid that anyone I’d marry, we’d end up like that. But you and I, we could never be like that. You’d tie me up and turn me in before that happened.” Len’s face had a faint leer to it, at those words, but his expression sobered immediately afterwards, “So, let’s do it.”

“That’s not a very imaginative proposal, Lenny,” Lisa commented from the doorway, but the smile on her face spoke more than her words could. “Where’s the fireworks?”

Len rolled his eyes, smirking, as he watched Barry. Barry watched him back, unable to speak, but launching himself at Len anyway.

“No fire between us,” Barry spoke for him, “just ice.” And Barry didn’t want it any other way.


End file.
